To Navigator Columbo:

This is the current state of the Spanish economy: there are ten brassbits to one copper piece. There are ten copper pieces to one silverpiece. There are ten silver pieces to one gold piece. There are 24 gold pieces to one platinum piece. There are 50 platinum pieces in the coin called the Royal Treasury. There are 15 Royal Treasuries in the royal treasury. I don't know how this stuff goes in Genoa, but here in Spain it means that we're in a budget crunch - what with having to fundthe Inquisition in the name of our Holy Father and so on.

Therefore we regret to inform you that we cannot in good conscience fund your escapist exploration of New Worlds or barring that a passage East to the Indies. However, our minister Slash and his wife Dorothy have suggested the following solution: if you would be willing to send occasional village idiots and heretics in rowboats to explore this New World; we can fund that. After all for the price of the ships you propose to use (what did you want to call them Tiny, Five, and Saint Mary?) we can pay for ten thousand rowbots and village idiots are not in short supply.

The universe may not be flat Mr. Columbus, and Ptolemy may be correct to our royal dismay, and certainly we respect the analysis of our beloved minister and his wife, but all these constitute no reason to distract our royal selves from our tasks here at home. We can send one rowbot every three years. Take it or leave it.

Now imagine if the royalty of Europe had been as short sighted as some are? Hmmmm? We explore space in person because 1) village idiots cannot be trusted. 2) Arrival is claim 3) Like Mt Everest, Space is there and we're going to climb it.